Guadeloupeofficially Department of Guadeloupe, French Département de la Guadeloupe, overseas département of France , consisting of a group of islands in the Lesser Antilles chain in the eastern Caribbean Sea. The nearest neighbours of the principal islands are the British dependency overseas territory of Montserrat to the northwest and the republic of Dominica to the south. The island of Martinique, also a French overseas département, lies about 74 miles (120 km) to the south. The main territory of Guadeloupe consists of the twin islands of Basse-Terre to the west and Grande-Terre to the east, the two being separated by a narrow channel, the Salée River; other islands in the group are Marie-Galante to the southeast, La Désirade to the east, and the Saintes Islands (Terre d’en Haut and Terre d’en Bas) to the south. Two more island dependencies—SaintFrench overseas collectivities—Saint-Barthélemy and Saint-Martin, the French-administered part of the island of Saint Martin (the southern third of which is administered by The Netherlands as Sint Maarten)—are —were part of Guadeloupe until 2007. They are situated about 150 miles (240 km) to the northwest, lying to the northwest of the outer arc of the Lesser Antilles. Basse-Terre, on the island of the same name, is the seat of government. The largest urban area, however, centres around Pointe-à-Pitre on Grande-Terre, the chief port and economic hub of Guadeloupe. Physical and human geographyThe landArea 629 square miles (1,631 square km). Pop. (1999) 386,566.

Land

Relief and drainage

Basse-Terre, which

has an area of 364 square miles

accounts for more than half of Guadeloupe’s land area, has a chain of mountains running north to south and culminating in Soufrière, a volcano rising to 4,813 feet (1,467 metres)

high

above sea level; it erupted in 1797, 1837, and

1976

1976–77 and is now a source of hot springs and sulfur springs. Other summits of note are

feet (1,354 metres), and Grande Découverte, at 4,143 feet (1,263 metres). The mountain chain forms a watershed from which rivers run down to the sea. The principal river on the island is the Goyaves; other

rivers

streams are the Grande Plaine, the Petite Plaine, the Moustique, the Lézarde, and the Rose. Basse-

Terre has a beautiful coastline,

Terre’s coastline is indented with bays and fringed with picturesque beaches. Grande-Terre has an area of 220 square miles (570 square km) and is generally low-lying; it has only a few bluffs higher than 490 feet

. Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélemy are rugged and rise to an altitude of 1,391 feet and 921 feet, respectively.

(150 metres).

Climate

The tropical climate is tempered by the northeast trade winds. The temperature on the coast varies between

77°

77 and

82° F

82 °F (

25°

25 and

28° C

28 °C), with extremes of

68°

68 and

93° F

93 °F (

20°

20 and

34° C

34 °C). In the mountains above 1,900 feet (580 metres) the temperature may drop to

61° F (16° C

61 °F (16 °C), and at the summit of Soufrière to

39° F (4° C

39 °F (4 °C). There are two distinct seasons—the “Creole Lent,” or dry season

, from

(December to April), and winter, or rainy season

, from

(July to September–October). Precipitation varies with

altitude

elevation and orientation. Grande-Terre receives approximately

39

40 inches (990

millimetres

mm) of rain a year, while the mountainous parts of Basse-Terre receive more than 100 inches (2,540 mm). Hurricanes occur occasionally, in most cases coming from the south.

Plant and animal life

The heat, rainfall, and fertility of the volcanic soils produce a luxuriant vegetation diversified according to

altitude

elevation. About two-fifths of the islands’ area

is covered by forests

, most of

this

it on Basse-Terre, is covered by forests. Extensive mangrove swamps cover the banks of the Salée River. Dense forest grows in the mountainous regions of Basse-Terre, beginning almost at sea level on the windward slopes and at

altitudes

elevations of about 750 to 3,000 feet (230 to 900 metres) or more on the leeward side. There chestnut trees and bracken are found, as well as such hardwoods as mahogany and ironwood. On the highest peaks some flooded basins

produce a vegetation of

are covered with grasses and sedges. Grande-Terre, cleared of most of its original forests, has only a few patches of woodland. The smaller islands, such as La Désirade

and Saint-Martin

, have a different type of vegetation, consisting primarily of dry forest with groves of latania (a kind of fan palm) and cactus.

Animal life has been modified since

colonization

colonial times. Raccoons are plentiful and are sought for their fur.

The agouti

Agoutis (

a

short-haired, short-eared, rabbitlike

rodent) still inhabits the heights of Capesterre, southeast

rodents), mongooses, and Guadeloupe woodpeckers inhabit the highlands of the island of Basse-Terre. In some regions, wild ducks, waterfowl, and teal are found.

The

warmth of the water

warm waters around the islands

is responsible for

support a rich variety of marine life, including

lobster

lobsters,

crab

crabs,

octopus

octopuses,

tarpon

tarpons,

snook

snooks (a basslike kind of fish),

hogfish

hogfishes,

snapper

snappers, parrot

fish

fishes, and many species of

ray fish

rays.

People

The

peopleThe

population is composed principally of Creoles (i.e., persons born in the islands), most of whom are

mulatto, but on Saintes Islands the inhabitants are mainly white

of mixed African (black) and European (white) ancestry. The largest minorities in Guadeloupe are the black and French

-

Amerindian groups. The white population greatly declined during the period of the French Revolution at the end of the 18th century; today whites make up only a tiny minority. On the smaller islands, whites are mostly descended from 17th-century Norman and Breton settlers.

While

French is the official language, and a local creole

dialect

is also widely spoken.

The majority of

Some four-fifths of the people are Roman Catholic; there are also smaller proportions of Jehovah’s Witnesses and Protestants.

Guadeloupe’s population has a low rate of natural increase compared

to

with other West Indian islands. Its birth and death rates are lower than the Caribbean average but about the same as those of its French counterpart, Martinique. The vast majority of the population resides on the two largest islands; Marie-Galante is the next most populous island, followed by

Saint-Martin, Saint-Barthélemy,

Saintes Islands

,

and La Désirade.

The islanders’ standard of living is among the highest in the eastern Caribbean.The economyThe economy is marked by a slow-growing agricultural sector, an embryonic industrial sector, a growing tourism sector, and a highly developed public service sector. In effect, the economy is sustained primarily

Economy

Government services are central to the island’s economy, which is primarily sustained by the salaries of officials and by French

credits, which consist of

aid in the form of allocations and grants. Tourism, which has grown in importance, is the main source of foreign exchange. Manufacturing and agriculture account for few jobs. The islanders’ standard of living is among the highest in the eastern Caribbean.

Agriculture and industryfishing

Bananas and sugarcane

form

are the principal cash crops

; coffee

. Coffee, vanilla,

and

cacao

are also grown. The banana plantations suffered from a series of hurricanes in the 1960s

,

but the plantations were replanted with more productive types of trees. The cultivation of fresh

vegetables, coconuts,

pineapples, limes, mangoes, flowers, and coffee is increasingly important

and fruits are also grown. Eggplants and flowers are chiefly grown for export. Most of the small fish catch is exported.

Manufacturing and services

An industrial zone and a free port have been developed at Jarry, near Pointe-à-Pitre.

Industry is involved mostly in the processing of agricultural products, especially sugar refining and rum making.TradeThere is a severe

The major products include cement, sugar, rum, clothing, wooden furniture, and metalware. The service sector—notably, public administration, education, and health and social services—is the largest single source of employment and makes the greatest contribution to gross domestic product. Tourism is another important activity for the economy.

Trade

Guadeloupe has a chronically large annual deficit in the balance of external trade,

most of which

with the value of imports vastly outstripping that of exports. The bulk of trade is with France; Martinique, Germany, and the

Franc Zone

United States are lesser trading partners. Most imports

are consumer goods

consist of food and agricultural products, machinery and equipment, and vehicles and parts. Most of the banana crop and raw sugar are exported to France.

Rum, coffee, cocoa, and vanilla also are

Other fruits and vegetables, rum, and flowers are also exported.

Transportation

Guadeloupe maintains regular air and sea links with France and with the North American continent. The port of Pointe-à-Pitre is equipped to handle cargoes of minerals, sugar, and cereals. The port of Basse-Terre specializes in the banana export trade.

Le Raizet,

Guadeloupe’s international airport is located north of Pointe-à-Pitre

, is an international airport used by French, U

.

S., British, and Dutch airlines. There is a secondary airport on

There are also airports on the smaller islands, including Marie-Galante

. On the island of Saint-Martin, the town of Marigot, the capital of the French portion of the island, is an important port; the Juliana International Airport, west of Philipsburg in the Dutch sector, serves both parts of the island.

and La Désirade.

Local steamers connect Basse-Terre and Grande-Terre with the other

island dependencies

islands of Guadeloupe. The road system on the main islands is kept in excellent condition. Except for some privately owned plantation lines, there are no railways in Guadeloupe.

Administration

Government and social conditionsGovernmentThe département is under the executive authority of a commissioner appointed by the French government; there is an elected legislative councilsociety

The French government is represented in the département by an appointed prefect and two subprefects. Executive authority lies with the presidents of the 42-member General Council and the 41-member Regional Council. The two councils, whose members are popularly elected for six-year terms, form the legislative branch. Guadeloupe sends representatives to

both

the French National Assembly

and

, the French Senate, and the European Parliament. Since 1974 Guadeloupe has had the status of a full région of France. The territory of Guadeloupe is divided into

three arrondissements

two arrondissements (Basse-Terre and Pointe-à-Pitre), which are in turn divided into

34

cantons and communes, each administered by an elected municipal council.

JusticeThe

Guadeloupe’s judicial system

is

follows the French model. There are a court of appeal at Basse-Terre, two higher courts (tribunaux de grande instance), and four lower courts (tribunaux d’instance). Justices of the peace are established in each of the cantons.

Education

French is the medium of instruction. As it is in metropolitan France, education is compulsory from age 6 to 16. In addition to the 5-year primary schools, there are lycées and collèges(upper and lower secondary schools, respectively) as well as a teacher-training college. A school of humanities, a law and economics school, a school of medicine, and a school of science at Pointe-à-Pitre are part of the University of the Antilles and

Guyana

Guiana.

Health and welfare

The same social legislation is in effect as in metropolitan France. There is a general hospital at Pointe-à-Pitre,

as well as a Pasteur Institute and

where there is also a research facility of the Pasteur Institute. There are also a number of other hospitals and clinics.

Cultural life

Cultural affairs are developed through the Ministry of Culture. The life expectancy in Guadeloupe is among the highest in the region.

Cultural life

Folk culture is of considerable significance, and colourful native costumes, including the unique madras et foulard(an outfit of a headdress and shawl, made up of scarves), may still be seen on holidays. Celebrations, particularly the annual

carnival

pre-Lenten Carnival, feature Creole music and folk dances, such as the beguine

. A number of museums are located in the major cities

(a rumbalike ballroom dance). Several museums, including the Victor Schoelcher Museum in Pointe-à-Pitre, are located in urban areas, and Pointe-à-Pitre also has a performing arts centre. Several newspapers are printed on the islands

, and radio and television are broadcast daily

.

History

Visited on Nov. 4, 1493, in November 1493 by Christopher Columbus, the two main islands, then islands—then together known as Karukera (Island “Island of Beautiful WatersWaters”), were —were peopled by Caribs, who had displaced the original Arawak inhabitants. The Columbus consecrated the territory was consecrated to Our Lady of Guadalupe of Extremadura in Spain, from whom it takes its name.

French rule

Preliminary attempts by the Spanish to establish themselves were repulsed by the Caribs The Caribs repulsed Spanish troops and settlers in 1515, 1520, and 1523. In 1626 the Spanish, who had established themselves on the coast, were driven away by Pierre Belain Bélain, sieur d’Esnambuc, a Frenchman who established a trading company. In 1635 two other Frenchmen, Léonard de L’Olive and Jean Duplessis d’Ossonville, landed and established a colony. Until 1640 the colonists fought against the Carib Indians, but thereafter the colony prospered. Four chartered companies were grew. In 1644 the slave trade first brought workers for the sugar, coffee, and other plantations that the colonists established, and slavery became institutionalized. In 1674 Guadeloupe passed from the hands of chartered companies, which had been ruined in successive attempts to colonize Guadeloupe, and in 1674 it passed the islands, to the authority of the French crown, becoming . It became a dependency of Martinique, which it remained until 1775. Guadeloupe benefited from the influence of Jean-Baptiste Labat(1663 to 1738), a strong personality leader who was the effective founder of the Basse-Terre colony and who in 1703 armed the island’s African slaves (who had already been brought to the island) in order that they might fight against the English; he also established the first sugar refineries, thereby laying the foundations foundation for the era of economic prosperity that followed.

In 1759 Guadeloupe was occupied by the British for four years but was restored to France in 1763. In 1794 it was again occupied by British troops, allied with French royalists, but was recaptured by Victor Hugues, an official of the French revolutionary government, who proclaimed the abolition of slavery official Victor Hugues recaptured it, abolished slavery, and had several hundred white planters massacred. When slavery was reestablished by Napoleon’s government in Napoleon I’s government reestablished slavery in the French colonies in 1802, a slave revolt of the slaves occurredand culminated in the heroic act of the . It culminated as antislavery forces , who blew themselves up rather than surrender when threatened at Matouba when threatened by French forces under the command of General Antoine Richepanse; Richepanse himself had been sent by Napoleon to pacify Guadeloupe, but he died of yellow fever in the same yearGen. Antoine Richepanse. The British occupied Guadeloupe in 1810; however, after some changes in status, it was restored to France in 1816.

The final abolition of slavery in 1848 was the most significant development of the territory’s 19th-century historydevelopment in the territory. Universal suffrage was abolished during the reign of Napoleon III of France, but in 1870 colonial representation in the French Parliament was restored. In 1940 Guadeloupe gave its allegiance to the Vichy government of Nazi-occupied France during World War II (1939–45), but in 1943 it adhered to General Gen. Charles de Gaulle’s Free French forces. In 1946 it was given the status of a French département, and in 1974 it became a région of France.

Political and economic changes since World War IIGuadeloupe has had several 1950

Several independence movements since the end of World War IIemerged on Guadeloupe after the war, but the charismatic appeals of de Gaulle, who visited the island in 1956, 1960, and 1964, managed to sidestep the separatists and convince the majority to stay within the French union. More local control has been was granted the islandsince the 1960s, but , as progress on the autonomy talks slowed to a standstill in the 1970s, the separatist groups became increasingly violent. Several bombings were committed on the islands and in Paris by Guadeloupe were attributed to Caribbean independence groups. Despite further acts of violence in the 1980s by these groups and their gains in local government, the French government reiterated its determination to maintain département status for Guadeloupe. The lack of economic improvement, however, provided some stimulus to those seeking independencegroups.

There are few works that treat all the islands of the Lesser Antilles or describe a particular island comprehensively, although a number of broad overviews are listed in the earlier section on the region. An informative geologic survey, covering locations from both the Lesser Antilles and the Netherlands Antilles, is offered in J.H. Westermann and H. Kiel, The Geology of Saba and St. Eustatius, with Notes on the Geology of St. Kitts, Nevis, and Montserrat, Lesser Antilles (1961).

. The status of Guadeloupean products, especially bananas, in the new European market became a key concern as Guadeloupe and other overseas départements joined the European Union. In 2000 the French Parliament approved several institutional reforms proposed by the leaders of the Caribbean départements, transferring to the local assemblies many responsibilities previously reserved to France, including international relations. In a 2003 referendum, the populations of Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélemy voted for secession from Guadeloupe, and in 2007 the two former arrondissements became overseas collectivities of France.

Guy Lasserre, La Guadeloupe: Étude géographique, 3 vol. (1978), is a detailed geography. Studies of flora include Clarissa Thérèse Kimber, Martinique Revisited: The Changing Plant Geographies of a West Indian Island (1988); and David Watts, Man’s Influence on the Vegetation of Barbados, 1627 to 1800 (1966).The people of Barbados are discussed in Jill Sheppard, The “Redlegs” of Barbados, Their Origins and History (1977), which explores the history of indentured servants; Farley Brathwaite (ed.), The Elderly in Barbados (1986), a survey of social and economic conditions of the elderly; and Graham M.S. Dann (ed.), Everyday in Barbados: A Sociological Perspective (1976), which discusses social structures and recreational activityTravel guides include Pascale Couture, Guadeloupe, 5th ed. (2005); and Lynne M. Sullivan, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Dominica, & St. Lucia Alive! (2002). Jean Benoist (ed.), L’Archipel inachevé: culture et société aux Antilles françaises (1972), is an anthropological study of the French islands of Martinique, Guadeloupe, La Désirade, Marie-Galante, and Saint-Barthélemy. Stuart BAlbert L. Philpott, West Indian Migration: The Montserrat Case (1973), explores the impact of migration on village population. Bonham C. Richardson, Caribbean Migrants: Environment and Human Survival on St. Kitts and Nevis (1983), focuses on migration as a response to degradation of environment. Karen Fog Olwig, Cultural Adaptation and Resistance on St. John: Three Centuries of Afro-Caribbean Life (1985), examines the society of one of the Virgin Islands.

Analyses of economic conditions include Delisle Worrell (ed.), The Economy of Barbados, 1946–1980 (1982), a study of the trends of the major sectors; Bonham C. Richardson, Panama Money in Barbados, 1900–1920 (1985), which discusses the impact of remittances on a wide range of economic activities and social attitudes; Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Peasants and Capital: Dominica in the World Economy (1988), which explores patterns of land ownership and agricultural production; and C. Bourne, E.R. Lefranc, and F. Nunes (compilers), Small Farming in the Less Developed Countries of the Commonwealth Caribbean (1980), which provides information on Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, Dominica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Montserrat, and Antigua. Studies of individual island-state economies include John S. Brierley, Small Farming in Grenada, West Indies (1974); Deirdre M. Kelly, Hard Work, Hard Choices: A Survey of Women in St. Lucia’s Export-Oriented Electronics Factories (1987); and Hymie Rubenstein, Coping With Poverty: Adaptive Strategies in a Caribbean Village (1987).

Historical works which concentrate mostly on slavery and plantation life include the following: Vincent T. Harlow, A History of Barbados, 1625–1685 (1926, reprinted 1969), an examination of the period of the early British colonies; Gary A. Puckrein, Little England: Plantation Society and Anglo-Barbadian Politics, 1627–1700 (1984), a revisionist economic history, particularly strong on the creolizing process; Hilary Beckles, Black Rebellion in Barbados: The Struggle Against Slavery, 1627–1838 (1984), a provocative interpretation of slave resistance. Jerome S. Handler, The Unappropriated People: Freedmen in the Slave Society of Barbados (1974), which fills a gap in historiography; Karl Watson, The Civilised Island, Barbados: A Social History, 1750–1816 (1979), a study of the mature slave society; Claude Levy, Emancipation, Sugar, and Federalism: Barbados and the West Indies, 1833–1876 (1980), on postslavery adjustments; Gordon C. Merrill, The Historical Geography of St. Kitts and Nevis, the West Indies (1958), which discusses the colonial period on the islands; Lennox Honychurch, The Dominica Story: A History of the Island, 2nd ed. (1984), a well-illustrated study covering developments up to the 1980s and benefiting from the author’s personal involvement in the constitutional changes leading to independence; and George Brizan, Grenada, Island of Conflict: From Amerindians to People’s Revolution, 1498–1979 (1984), the work of a Grenadian historian and politician.

Gastmann, Historical Dictionary of the French and Netherlands Antilles (1978), is a useful reference, though dated. Marion Goslinga (compiler), Guadeloupe (2000), is a bibliographic guide.